Slack and the Sabbath

A se­ries of med­i­ta­tions on free­dom to do the things you care about.

Some things are fun­da­men­tally Out to Get You.

They seek re­sources at your ex­pense. Fees are hid­den. Ex­tra op­tions are foisted upon you. Things are made in­ten­tion­ally worse, forc­ing you to pay to make it less worse. Every­thing is data to sell you some­thing, rather than an op­por­tu­nity to help you.

When some­thing is out to get you, if you aren’t care­ful, it can take all your re­sources—your time, you money, your at­ten­tion.

This mat­ters, more deeply than you might re­al­ize. It’s not just that you need your re­sources. You need enough re­sources to have slack: free­dom from con­straints that might bind you.

Slack means mar­gin of er­ror. You can re­lax. You can ex­plore and pur­sue op­por­tu­ni­ties. You can plan for the long term. You can stick to prin­ci­ples and do the right thing.